Messages

8391

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: November 02, 2009, 10:16:05 AM »

A friend of mine has just had some stainless fabrication work done by a company that cuts the material with lasers. He mentioned that I was constructing my own laser cutting head so they cut me this bicycle from stainless and said that if I could make one like this then I have truly constructed a machine to be proud of. (It is 1mm thick and 5mm long).

Don’t think I will ever be able to do it but it is one hell of a challenge.

I wonder - can anyone else cut one like this on a home built machine?.

Tweakie.


Sorry for the bad photo but it is the best I can do without a close-up lens.

8392

General Mach Discussion / Re: Slaving more than 2 steepers

« on: October 30, 2009, 10:19:56 AM »

Oh yes, I think it is possible to slave 16 steppers and there is more than one way to do it.
The obvious approach is to use 16 Gecko's or similar (one for each stepper) but it is doubtful if the output from your LPT port or the output from your BOB would support a fan-out of 16. Some electronics (fairly simple stuff) would be necessary to drive the 16 Gecko's from the BOB.
Some of the steppers could be multiplexed (series or parallel) depending on the drive current available from the Gecko and the stepper spec. In all cases the steppers must be carefully step aligned with each other (so they are not fighting each other for position, particularly during microsteps).
It's going to cost a bit, but it can be done.

Tweakie.

8393

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: more stupid questions bits and end mills.

« on: October 30, 2009, 09:58:56 AM »

I think everybody has already covered this well.
However, to add my twopence worth, I have found that the single flute cutters are excellent for wood and plastic because they clear the cuttings so quickly but they are not good for metal so I think you will have to buy a few different types of cutter and see how you get on with each type.

Tweakie.

8394

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: 2 picture Lithopane merged using Aspire

« on: October 30, 2009, 09:50:57 AM »

Great work Kent.

Tweakie.

btw. I continually admire that white tiger litho.

8395

General Mach Discussion / Re: More text and engrave questions

« on: October 28, 2009, 03:29:53 AM »

Unfortunately WinXP does not support the HP7475a printer driver. This is why many people, like me, who still use a Roland Plotter keep a W98 setup. The HP7475a can be downloaded from many sites on the internet but let me know if you have trouble finding it and I will post a copy.

Tweakie.

8396

General Mach Discussion / Re: More text and engrave questions

« on: October 27, 2009, 10:07:27 AM »

I keep an old PC still running W98 as this operating system still supports the HP 7475a driver. This driver is installed exactly as a printer would be and it will print to file the HPGL code of any drawing you can make with a vector based program such as Microsoft Powerpoint. The resultant HPGL is then easily converted to GCode and used with Mach.

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

8397

General Mach Discussion / Re: Reset Button problem.

« on: October 27, 2009, 06:33:40 AM »

Thanks Phil, you got it in one.

Now both computers have the same regional and keyboard settings it is working as it should.

Thanks again.

Tweakie.

8398

General Mach Discussion / Re: Reset Button problem.

« on: October 26, 2009, 01:41:20 PM »

Hi Hood,

Thanks for the reply, it is very much appreciated.

I have checked the screenset, as suggested, and can confirm that the hotkey is enabled for the reset button.
I have concluded that it may not be a screenset related problem as I have two computers running Mach, my internet computer (the one I am using here) and my workshop computer. The same screenset works as expected on this computer but no longer responds to the @ key on my workshop one. I have also checked for different ascii values for the @ key on the different keyboards but the mystery of why it used to work but doesn't any longer still defeats me.

Any further suggestions would be well received.

Tweakie.

8399

General Mach Discussion / Reset Button problem.

« on: October 26, 2009, 09:24:07 AM »

Up to now, I have always been able to operate the screen Reset Button from my keyboard using the @' key but recently this has stopped happening. I have obviously altered a setting somewhere but cannot find the cure.
Has anyone else had this problem and found the answer ?.

Tweakie.

8400

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Milla Render Complete

« on: October 26, 2009, 09:10:28 AM »

Its going to be an impressive machine when it is all finished Barry.

Tweakie.